I have two tips: (1) Pay attention to all your bills and statements. Open them quickly and look for errors and overcharges. If you wait a few months to complain, you probably won’t get a full refund.

(2) Play a good defensive game. Remember when you learned to drive? Remember when the instructor told you to assume that all the other cars on the road were out to get you? That’s how you protect yourself as a consumer from corporate trickery.

Assume that every advertisement, sales pitch and promotion is designed to lure you in, giving only the benefits and none of the drawbacks. Realize that it’s your job to hunt down the missing information. Then, you’re less likely to get hooked.

Thanks for sharing all the financial literacy from all of us bloggers, Ellen. It’s much appreciated!

I like your tip about playing it defensive. Realizing that money makes the world go round, there is usually strong financial motivation behind most of the messages we encounter on a daily basis, both online and offline.